Welcome to the Chaplin UK guide to Charlie Chaplin films available on DVD and video in the United Kingdom. When this page was first published in 1997, it was harder to find Chaplin films in the UK, and many releases were of low quality. More recently several higher quality editions have become available, and they are easier to find thanks to a resurgeance of interest in one of the world's most famous and talented film makers, as well as the huge growth in the DVD market.

Update 2015

This website has been woefully out of date for a few years now - the task of updating and staying aware of new discs and their quality was too big.

In the meantime, I will keep this page here for now, just as an historical document!

Please note that the sendit.com purchase links no longer work.

How to use this pageAs VHS video is a diminishing format, precedence on this page is now given to DVD. Titles featured here are available to buy from sendit.com, one of the UK's most reliable and largest stockists of home entertainment (with free UK delivery). Chaplin UK has been a long-time associate of sendit.com (formerly Blackstar).

You can view and buy the title you're interested in by clicking on the sendit icon:

The page is laid out by distributor, and it starts with the most recommended versions of Chaplin films for the collector. You will find that some titles have been deleted, and where possible I have noted this. Sendit.com provide an excellent and often successful video hunt service.

Please note that this is a UK site and so most DVDs will be region 2. Check the region at sendit.com before making a purchase if you are unsure. To learn more about region codes, click here. A US DVD guide can be found here.

Recommended titles for your collectionThese provide the best Chaplin available

Released in September 2003, these editions are what all Chaplin enthusiasts have been waiting for and constitute what has become the definitive Chaplin collection on DVD and video. The film rights were licensed to Martin Karmitz (MK2) by the Chaplin estate, and replace the previous blue-coloured Fox CBS videos as the primary source for Chaplin's classic full-length films in the UK. The quality is the best available and the extras are excellent and numerous. Click here to see the mind-boggling extras on the DVDs (not available on the video cassettes). Perhaps the only niggle I have is that the boxes are rather fiddly to open, and you have to be careful to keep them pristine.

Cat No.

Title

DVD

VHS

Boxed set collections

DVD
D034172

VHS
S034202

The Charlie Chaplin Collection Box Set
This is the boxed set to own if you want as much Chaplin as you can get in one go. As well as all the major films it includes A Woman of Paris and A King In New York, and the Richard Schickel documentary.Includes: The Kid, A Woman Of Paris, The Gold Rush, The Circus, City Lights, Modern Times, The Great Dictator, Monsieur Verdoux, Limelight, A King In New York. Click to see the extras (DVD only).

D034244

The Charlie Chaplin Collection Volume 1The boxed set is also available split into two separate volumes.Includes: The Gold Rush, Modern Times, The Great Dictator, Limelight, as well as the Richard Schickel documentary.

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D037975

The Charlie Chaplin Collection Volume 2
Includes: The Kid, A Woman Of Paris, The Circus, City Lights, Monsieur Verdoux, A King In New York.

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D037654

New The Chaplin Revue
Includes: Shoulder Arms, The Idle Class, The Pilgrim, A Dog's Life, A Day's Pleasure, Sunnyside, Pay Day. Click to see the extras (DVD only).

The British Film Institute have released Charlie Chaplin's excellent Essanay and Mutual short films in a very nice package that includes a new musical score specially composed by Carl Davis. The prints have been restored and are very good quality. Perhaps the only minor disappointment (common to many BFI DVDs) is the repetition of extras on different discs, but this remains a must for your collection and sees Chaplin at his most creative. These replace and supercede the deleted Polygram video series.

Cat No.

Title

DVD

BFIVD558

The Essanay Films Volume 1
2 discs: His New Job, A Night Out, The Champion, In the Park, A Jitney Elopement, The Tramp, By the Sea, Work. Extras: Photo gallery, text essay on Chaplin at Essanay.

BFIVD559

The Essanay Films Volume 2
2 discs: A Woman, The bank, Shanghaied, His Regeneration, A Night in the Show, Burlesque on Carmen, Police, Triple Trouble. Same extras as Volume 1.

Before the Warner/MK2 DVDs came along, this acted as the Chaplin fans' 'extras'. It contains the three Thames Television documentaries broadcast in January 1983 by Kevin Brownlow and David Gill that featured never-before-seen footage of Chaplin at work behind the scenes, out-takes and home movie footage. An indespensible and unique volume. Narrated by James Mason, with music by Carl Davis.

Stonevision were the first company to bring Chaplin to DVD in this country and they remain the main provider of Chaplin films from the Keystone era (see also Orbit and Limelight). Sadly the quality is not the best and the musical accompaniment is merely a record of old-time jazz played along, complete with gaps between the tunes, that really doesn't do any silent film justice. 'Extras' consist of a very brief text biography of Chaplin and a very complete filmography that needed an editor (The Migrant (The Immigrant), The Freeman (The Fireman) and The Idle Glass, (The Idle Class) etc.). Some of the shorts appear under alternative titles, which I have noted below. These are (mostly) watchable, but lazily produced.

Charlie Chaplin Collection Volume 2Knock Out, Between Showers, A Day's Pleasure, Sunnyside, Hot Finish (more commonly known as Mabel at the Wheel).Note: Some sources say Volume 2 was never released due to a rights issue. Actually it was, but was withdrawn. So it is no longer available. I presume the rights issue was over Sunnyside and A Day's Pleasure, though the disc is actually on the Stonevision 'Super Box Set' (see below).

SVD5023

Charlie Chaplin Collection Volume 3The Good For Nothing (more commonly known as His New Profession), Charlie's Recreation (more commonly known as Tango Tangles), Work, The Tramp, By the Sea.

Charlie Chaplin Collection Volume 7I have not been able to find volumes 7 and 8 of this series, though I did discover vol. 7 was supposed to have A Night Out, Shoulder Arms and The Idle Class - perhaps more rights issues.

Charlie Chaplin MarathonThis appears to be exactly the same (including the packaging) as the Laserlight Chaplin Marathon. Includes: The Rink, The Immigrant, Tillie's Punctured Romance, The Vagabond. The Laserlight edition had Tillie's being narrated á la Harold Lloyd and I presume this is the same.

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82718
84154

Charlie Chaplin: His Life and WorkI can't comment on this documentary as I haven't seen it.

Charlie Chaplin: The Early Years
This documentary used to be available on tape from Red Eye Entertainment (RED4110). Similair in content and concept to 'The Little Tramp' (MIA), sporting a variety of Keystone and Essanay clips, and a spoken/presented narration at the beginning (by Bob Sessions). Not highly enlightening, but a nice extract from 'The Masquerader' adds something otherwise unavailable.

Chaplin
Richard Attenborough's 1992 biopic starring Robert Downey Jr. as Charlie. Responsible for turning many people on to Chaplin, some love it, some hate it. I, for one, think it a very good attempt at a complicated story. The extras on this disc seem more for publicity (behind the scenes being the most interesting). Previously released on tape by Guild Home Video (GLD51442) and then 4-Front Video (0439623). Extras include a trailer, behind the scenes, production story, a director's view and a photo gallery.

Comedy Greats
Chaplin probably comes off worst among the other two films on offer here as he's not represented at his best. Three films include Chaplin's Tillie's Punctured Romance, Buster Keaton's Steamboat Bill Jr, and, rather bizarrly, Danny Kaye in The Inspector General (from 1949).

For a few years these were the main purveyors of Chaplin's classic full-length features on video. They were nicely presented in a royal dark blue box with silver lettering, and the production value on the tape was good quality as well. Each casette included a nice reproduction of the film poster on the back, and the trailers were well put together and entertaining in their own right. Superceded by the Warner set.

Polygram provided Charlie Chaplin's Essanay and Mutual films, with four titles to a tape, each one preceeded by a little text piece on-screen that gave a bit of background to the film. Nicely presented, though the Essanay volumes were without music which isn't ideal. When the spines of the collection were lined up, they made up a portrait of Charlie (Essany vol. 2 was printed upside down). Superceded by the BFI discs.

Before the Warner/MK2 DVDs came along, this video acted as the Chaplin fans' 'extras'. A single tape (only available on VHS) contained the three Thames Television documentaries broadcast in January 1983 by Kevin Brownlow and David Gill that featured never-before-seen footage of Chaplin at work behind the scenes, out-takes and home movie footage. Narrated by James Mason, with music by Carl Davis.

The Chaplin Shorts Vol. 1Cruel Cruel Love, A Film Johnny, Triple Trouble. This tape contains a particularly bad example of a record used as a soundtrack, expecially when a vocalist starts singing during Leo White's patch-up Triple Trouble. Was there ever a volume 2?

Charlie Chaplin 3 Video Box SetVTS produced (still do?) a few 3 box sets, Laurel & Hardy being another example. Despite the cover image, The Gold Rush is not included here. The music is quite good, livened up with a few comedy sound effects (which can get a little irksome after a while).
Tape 1: The Tramp, The Bank, The Pawnshop.
Tape 2: The Immigrant, The Adventurer, Behind the Screen.
Tape 3: The Champion, Easy Street, The Rink.

Charlie Chaplin - The Little TrampAn HBO special from 1980 hosted by Joel Grey. Not highly rewatchable and mainly consisting of a number of clips (good scenes - bad quality film) from Charlie's Keystone, Essanay and Mutual years (it goes no further). A very American production - the introduction includes the icky line 'his costume was as recognisable as the American flag, or a Model T Ford...'. Yikes. But it has its moments.